Yes, he was the barber of Ainsworth who left in 1904 for sunny California. Then he wrote back in December of that year to say he wasn't impressed with what he found there. And he wasn't kidding. Eventually he left sunny California, came back to Ainsworth and (as far as I know at the moment) lived out the rest of his life here. He is buried in Woodvale Cemetery beside his wife, Pauline, known as Lena.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Lena was the sister of John Miller, who also lived in Ainsworth. She married Lee in 1892. The 1900 census finds the Hunters living just over the Porter County line, earning their living growing fruit. By 1904, as we know, he was barbering in Ainsworth.
Whether Lena went with him to California, I do not know. Between 1904 and 1910 there is no mention of either of them in the newspapers. From 1910 on they show up now and then in the social news, apparently leading a stable, quietly sociable life. The last news I've seen of Lee in my reading was in July 1915, when he and William Wollenberg took an auto trip into Canada. (The country, not the northern part of Hobart.)
Lee described himself to the 1910 census-taker as a road supervisor, and he was re-elected in 1911, winning against Charles Maybaum, Jr. In 1920 he gave his occupation as barber again; in 1930, he said he was a public-school janitor.
The Hunters were childless, it seems, but by 1920 they had adopted an orphan boy named Gilbert, then 11 years old. He had left their home before the 1930 census. But they were still in Ainsworth. So there!
Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Ainsworth." Hobart News 21 Dec. 1911.
♦ "General News." Hobart Gazette 30 July 1915.
♦ "Obituary." Hobart Gazette 8 Mar. 1912.
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